Environment and Disasters

Ecosystems for resilience in the face of disasters and climate change

Climate change and hazard events such as landslides and floods have caused a marked increase in disasters worldwide, putting millions of people at risk, especially women and children. Human vulnerability to natural hazards is exacerbated by ongoing environmental degradation, high population densities in exposed areas, increased frequency of extreme weather events and lacking or ineffective government policies.

Ecosystems contribute to reducing the risks of disasters in multiple and varied ways. Healthy ecosystems such as wetlands, forests and coastal areas, including mangroves and sand dunes reduce vulnerability to hazards by supporting livelihoods, while acting as physical protection to reduce the impact of hazard events.

Environmental degradation reduces the capacity of these ecosystems to meet communities' needs for food and other products and to protect them from hazards by providing services such as flood regulation, slope stabilization and protection from storm surges. It also greatly reduces a landscape's ability to sequester carbon - a crucial element in climate change mitigation.

The most vulnerable are often those who are most dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. Ecosystem restoration and sustainable management of natural resources can therefore play a critical role in people's ability to prevent, cope with and recover from disasters. Ecosystems provide livelihood benefits such as food, firewood, clean water, fibers and medicines that contribute to the overall resilience of communities to disasters and climate change.

Human and financial losses caused by climate-related disasters have risen significantly over the past few years. The year 2011 saw the highest economic losses due to disasters in history, at USD 370 billion. These losses are expected to increase as climate change impacts intensify and development patterns expose more industrial and private property. …

Mangroves reduce wave height by as much as 66% over 100 metres of forest. A new report by The Nature Conservancy and Wetlands International says that mangrove management needs to be included in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts in coastal areas worldwide. …

As climate change increases the incidence of natural disasters like flooding and landslides, governments are looking for ways to protect their people and they’re finding that nature can help. … | French | Spanish

Bangladesh has a long history of natural disasters. Between 1980 and 2008, it experienced 219 natural disasters, causing more than USD $16 billion in damage and an estimated 200,000 deaths (UNDP, 2012). Bangladesh remains a country most vulnerable to natural disasters. UNDP reports that 30% of Bangladesh’s land and 26% of its population is exposed to three or more kinds of hazards.
Schools play an important role in disaster risk reduction. Schools educate the community and often provide shelter during a disaster. In July, staff members of IUCN Bangladesh travelled to remote, disaster prone communities in southern Bangladesh to discuss disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with school students, teachers, local education officers and district officials. To experience first-hand how resilient the people of Bangladesh are despite the onslaught of natural disasters was a humbling and rewarding experience for all involved. …

At the opening of the 11th Conference of the Contracting Parties (CoP) of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre called on governments to support strong partnerships as key to moving from aspiration to implementation for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. …

Climate change, food security, water stress, land degradation and biodiversity loss will become some of the greatest environmental challenges in the next decades, exacerbated by rising temperatures, more erratic rainfall and rising pressure on land and natural resources. Protected areas cover only 12.7% of terrestrial areas and 6.3% of coastal and marine ecosystems, but provide multiple services that can help people to cope with these changes. A joint event at the RIO +20 Summit on Sustainable Development focused on these key roles protected areas can play in promoting sustainable land and resource management, as well as contribute to the green economy. …

Innovative and collaborative actions that foster positive results are instrumental in encouraging further cooperation between sovereign countries, was the message from IUCN to the participants of Mekong2Rio, an international conference organized by the Mekong River Commission in Phuket, Thailand from 1-3 May 2012. …